June 30, (THEWILL) – Martin Luther King’s sister, Christine King Farris, has died at the age of 95.
Her demise was announced by the King Centre in a statement on Thursday.
According to the statement, the assassinated United States civil rights leader’s sister died peacefully surrounded by family.
“The King Centre joins the King and Farris families, civil rights activists, the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church family, academic family, and people of goodwill worldwide in celebrating the life of our servant leader, founding board member, former vice-chair and treasurer, activist educator, and family matriarch, the beloved Dr Christine King Farris,” the statement read.
Farris, who was also a civil rights activist, supported Coretta Scott, King Jr.’s widow, in establishing the King Center following her brother’s assassination.
Part of the historic events Farris participated in were the 1965 march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, and the March Against Fear in Mississippi in 1966.
She earned a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Spelman College in 1948 and later attended New York’s Columbia University, where she earned two Master’s degrees in Education.
Farris later became a Spelman educator, and director of the Learning Resources Centre until she retired in 2014.
She was married to Isaac Newton Farris Sr for 57 years until he died in 2017 and they have two children, Isaac Farris Jr. and Angela Farris-Watkins.
In 2003, she published a memoir on her childhood and upbringing with her brother titled “My brother Martin: A sister remembers growing up with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr”.
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